


See The Light

by JamieB93



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: F/M, emmerdale fucked up this story so i'm gonna fix it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 13:45:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19296967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamieB93/pseuds/JamieB93
Summary: It takes a whole village to fix one broken teenage boy.





	See The Light

**Author's Note:**

> TW for discussion of sexual abuse.

Chapter One. 

**The End.**

 

Of all the residents of Emmerdale village, Jacob Gallagher had always been the one person everyone seemed to be on the same page with. He was Jacob. The sweet, kind, considerate, funny, handsome shopkeepers son. The perfect boy next door who always had a smile and a polite hello whenever he passed you in the street. Everyone liked Jacob. He had never given anyone any reason not to. And he'd been through a lot of upheaval in his short life, yet he'd never let it change how he behaved. 

That had changed. Briefly.

Gossip spread like wildfire around the village, it seemed like there was a new scandal every day sometimes. Jacob had never generated much of, well, anything. Until a few months ago, when it had got round that Jacob had been spreading rumors that he'd been sleeping with Liv Flaherty. A few months after that, it was Gabby Thomas, and after that Leanna Cavanagh. Suddenly, Jacob was no longer the sweet and considerate wholesome boy-next-door but a sleazy, dirty, layabout who used the girls in his life as nothing but pawns to make himself feel better. 

And then, Jacob did change.

Gone were the smiles and the polite hello's. Gone was the awkward but endearing small talk as he rung up the groceries in the shop. Gone was his smile and his cheery, youthful optimism. Jacob Gallagher had changed, and no one seemed to know why. 

He was sullen. Moody. Impolite. He drank too much at his birthday party and humiliated himself, he stole his dead grandmother's ring to pawn for cash, he cheated on his steady and committed girlfriend and lied about her stealing booze from his father's shop. The fact Jacob didn't end up being battered in the middle of the street by Aaron Dingle was considered a borderline miracle by many of the Village's residents, and many felt they wouldn't have really been able to judge Aaron for it if he had. 

But, when the news came that Jacob had been groomed and abused by his father's girlfriend - it all made sense. Some were insensitive. They felt that the boy had simply lived out every teenage boys fantasy, sleeping with his attractive teacher. Others knew. It was wrong, and Jacob had been damaged by this woman. She'd twisted him. She'd taken away his smile, his innate goodness. By the time that Maya Stepney was sentenced to a year in prison, all that remained of the old Jacob Gallagher was his peanut allergy.

He was hollow.

Empty.

But hollowness is temporary, and Jacob was a fighter.

The smiles would be back.

It was just a matter of when they would return.

-

"I punched my Dad" Jacob said matter-of-factly. He was sitting with Gabby Thomas and Noah Dingle inside the cricket pavilion, half a bottle of stolen vodka sitting in between them, as the rain lashed down violently outside. 

"Yeah, we heard" Noah said sadly, "Probably not your best move."

"Don't make jokes" Jacob muttered, hanging his head back against the wall behind him, "I'm a really bad person, aren't I?"

Neither of his friends seemed to have an adequate comeback for that. Noah knew his friend wasn't a bad person, not really. He'd known plenty of actual bad people in his life and Jacob Gallagher was not one of them. He was one of the best. 

Gabby, on the other hand, had spent the last few months hating Jacob. For using her. For using Liv. She'd decided after finding out he'd been cheating on Liv that Jacob actually was a bad person, that he was as slimy and creepy as everyone at school had been saying. She didn't even really understand how or why she'd ended up in the cricket pavilion with him. Even now, looking at him in his distressed and broken state, all she could think of was how many people he'd hurt. Maya or no Maya, there was no excuse for that. 

But then, she thought back to the boy she'd known for most of her life. Her first crush. Her first kiss. He'd been both, and he'd been both for a reason. The Jacob Gallagher that Gabby had known and been friends with was not a bad person, and deep down she knew that the messed up and tearful wreck of a boy who was sitting next to her wasn't a bad person either. 

"You've made some really bad choices lately" Gabby replied with a sigh, "I'm not gonna pretend I'm not still mad at you Jacob, cos I am. But everyone makes mistakes, and you always managed to forgive me for mine"

Jacob weakly smiled at her.

"Did...did you really see Maya as she got taken away?" Noah asked

"Yeah" Jacob replied with a heavy, shaking sigh. 

Gabby scrutinized him once again. She couldn't really see his face due to the fact that he had his hood up and his hair had grown so long it was practically down to his shoulders, but even without that, Gabby could tell that his eyes were red raw from crying and that is face was very blotchy for the same reason. The tears he'd shed today hadn't been dignified, quiet ones like the ones she'd shed at her Dad's funeral but long, drawn out, ugly ones that had left him reeling. Whatever it was he'd felt for Maya, he'd clearly really felt it. Emotions like that couldn't be faked, and Gabby couldn't help but feel herself start to feel sympathy for the boy.

"What do I do now?" Jacob went on, "I told David and Leyla they weren't my parents anymore. Granddad's not gonna want me back after that. I can't go to Tracy's."

"Stay at mine!" Noah offered immediately, "I don't think my Mum will let you stay forever but I'm sure we can manage a few nights. It'll be fun, just like when we were kids. A sleepover"

Jacob smiled at Noah. He knew his friend meant well, but the last thing he wanted was to stay under the same roof as half the family who probably still wanted him dead due to the way that he'd treated Liv. 

"I dont-" he began but Gabby interrupted him.

"That's actually a really good idea, Noah" she said brightly, "I think you need some time away from your family, Jacob. All of them. Get your head sorted out."

"You're right" Jacob replied, smiling a little for the first time, "I'll be no good to Maya if I don't get my head sorted out"

"Maya?!" Gabby shot back, "Jacob....I'm sorry, but she's in prison now. You won't be able to see her ever again, you do realize that"

"I'm gonna wait for her"

"Why?" Gabby snapped, "Why are you gonna wait for her? Look at your life since she arrived, Jacob. Look at everything that has gone wrong. You're having to repeat a whole year of school cos you missed most of your exams, not to be harsh but most of your mates hate you now and you've practically been disowned by your whole family."

Noah cringed a little as Gabby's rant went on, but he didn't try to stop her. His best friend needed to hear this. 

"Maya's worth all of that" Jacob argued back.

"Is she? Really?" Gabby asked, "Because it seems to me like she's totally ruined your whole entire life. But I guess if you think she's worth it, then yeah, wait for her. I just hope that between now and then you have a serious wake up call"

For the first time in a long time, Jacob didn't argue back. He couldn't deny what Gabby had said. All of it was true. He'd just practically had to beg for a roof over his head, all because he'd fallen in love with his History teacher. She was his world. His reason for getting up in a morning. But what had it cost him?

-

 

 


End file.
